Girl Scout Situpon Buckets or How to Transform a Paint Bucket Into Something Stupidly Expensive

Good morning!  I hope it is for you.  I am a little tired today and just a little grumpy.  Yesterday was a very active and busy day and I am paying for it today. 

Last night was our second Brownie meeting of the year.  We are joining our troop with another troop whose leaders decided they didn't want to lead anymore.  We have a group of 16 girls now as opposed to 5 and it is a lively group.  It is mixed -- we have four Daisies and the rest are Brownies.  They are working well together and I think after the next meeting we will no longer be two troops combining but actually one big troop and it will be good.

Our goal last night was to have the Brownies teach the Daisies about Girl Scouts.  Several of the "old" girls prepared information to share with the littles.  After that, worked ensued on making a 5 gallon paint bucket into a little stool for them to sit on with room to carry all their necessary items.  We hope they will be useful during cookie booths even though they aren't supposed to sit down.  We will see.

So, I made a prototype and then cut out all the necessary parts ahead of time so they would only have to assemble it.  It was chaotic enough with all that pre-made -- I can't imagine what it would have been like if we had been trying to do all the cutting during the meeting. 

I didn't take any photos of the event last night -- I need to do that in the future -- but I did take photos of me making mine.  So, for your viewing pleasure  --

circle the size of the bucket lid cut out of cardboard -- we used moving boxes because we had them and they were free -- Girl Scouts are always frugal and resourceful

Four layers of extra loft batting to fit the cardboard circle

The lid before I attached the velcro -- low profile, industrial strength velcro cut into four pieces and spaced equally (12, 3, 6, and 9 like a clock).  I had put the loop and the fastener pieces together as a unit so when I stuck the bottom piece down I only had to remove the tape off the top one and place the covered "cushion" on the top and stuck to the velcro

The cardboard circle with the batting was covered in the fabric of their choice.  It was stretched around to the back and secured with duct tape.  It was easy to work with it to get a really smooth and nice looking cushion so when it was attached to the velcro, this is what it looked like

Decoration was their choice and the only requirement was that their name and troop number be visible.  So, here is my name and troop number.

And a little bit more ribbony goodness.  I have since added a sticker and a cross hanging from the handle.  I don't have a photo of that though.

So, yes, that has been what I have been doing the last couple of days.  It was really interesting to see the girls work on these last night.  There was all manner of fabric, embellishments, bling, hang-y things.  Their personalities really came out and they had a wonderful time. 

Now, I just have to clean up the mess I made.